So, I had made a decision that I wasn't going to participate
in the Last-Gen Hero/Zero articles. I read everything that everyone was
posting, and didn't feel that I had much to add. Most of the games I enjoyed
or disliked were covered, and the industry events that occurred were also being
written about. Then, I thought of one thing I had not seen anyone write about.

Talk Amongst
Yourselves.

This will be short,
but overwhelmingly sweet, so gird your loi- I mean prepare yourselves.

I have spent a good
portion of my life online. I started young, with an Apple IIe, and quickly
ascended to using IBM AT/XT models with 1200 baud modems and that brought me to
my first online community experiences. Bulletin Board Systems. Many of my geek
friends were running their own boards, and we spent hours playing MUDs and
flaming each other on various forums. Above all, though, was a sense of
community. We'd often help each other out in various ways, offer reviews and
opinions on different things, and when we weren't having flame wars, discussed interesting topics. Of course, like all good things, the era of the BBS came to
an end. We used mailing lists, AIM and ICQ to communicate with each other, but
the community slowly died off.

Over the years, I
was part of various game sites, message boards, forums – you name it, you can
probably find an account listed under LoserMLW. I tried time and time again to
find a place to call home; somewhere that I felt like I was contributing to, that felt
like that old BBS community from so long ago.

In August of 2013, I
stumbled upon TAY. I was a regular Kotaku and iO9 reader, and commented here and
there. Following a link to Talk Amongst Yourselves from an article on the main site,
I found myself reading everything posted there. Then, I read everything posted
on TAY Classic. Sure, there was a lot of "good natured ribbing", but the
overall feel of the site was exactly what I was looking for. People who shared
one big common interest, and then naturally shared all of their other interests as
well. Then and there, I decided to write something for TAY Classic, my article got promoted
to the front page, and I've been slowly worming my way into your hearts (and
other internal organs) ever since.

TAY has given me
that home; that place where we talk not only about gaming, but about
EVERYTHING. Life, food, art, travel, current events – even Furbys. Nothing is forbidden,
everything is permitted – that Assassin's Creed phrase really fits the bill
here. Not only do we talk about everything, we treat each other with respect
and dignity. Heck, even when we're assaulting each other with cat and dance GIFs, or
we disagree vehemently on whether Red Dead Redemption or Mass Effect is the
best or worst game of the last generation, we're civil and usually pretty fun. Respect is the rule of law, and it's
a rule we never have to enforce.

Over the last
generation of game platforms and games, I've gotten to play as an assassin, a
Pokemon trainer, an adventurous photographer, the Dragonborn, and countless
survivors of different genocides, apocalypses and catastrophes. However, when
I'm on TAY, I get to be the most interesting, challenging and mysterious
character of all.